Monday, May 30, 2011

Drew took Lindy to school on Monday and then headed out of town until Thursday afternoon. I flew solo most of the week. The kids and I actually did really well. We had school and swimming lessons to keep us busy and the time went by fast.

We had swim lessons on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Thursday was the last class for the month. Will did learn how to doggy paddle which is good. Lindy learned to play in the water. She loved the high school boy helping teach the classes. I look forward to working with her this summer in the pool. One-on-one where it’s not so loud. I have no clue if she heard anything in there. It was loud and the echo was bad. They had fun and that is what matters.

Wednesday after school and lunch, we headed out to the country and we got fresh strawberries. We headed to Mabe’s Strawberry patch. The Mabe clan are members of our last church. We talked to them for awhile and Tina took us for a couple rides on the golf cart. Somehow Lindy even ended up steering the golf cart. The child with poor vision was steering! We left there and drove around to visit a few old church members. The only ones we found home were Mike and Janice, which the kids enjoyed.

Thursday was Will’s last day of school. I cannot believe his first year of preschool is over. Where did the last 9 months go? Will loved every minute of preschool this year. He had me a little worried last summer but he ended up having a great year! His class ended the school year having a class picnic. I had to pick Lindy up early from school and we headed to his picnic. We all ate lunch together and the kids played. We took lots of pictures and called it a wrap on his first year of preschool!

Saturday we went to a birthday party for the little girl, Elia, up the road. Will played in their playroom the entire time. He came out for cake. I almost forgot he was there! Lindy wanted to be outside the entire time. They have an above ground pool they had set up that the kids could swim in. Two little girls did get in and Lindy wanted in bad. One of us would have had to go with her and neither Drew nor I wanted to go. The water was freezing! We’re hoping they invite us back to swim this summer when the water has had time to warm up!

We have not had a very exciting Memorial Day. I cleaned this morning and then we went to Best Buy and Kmart and came home and played in the yard. The 95F called for some sprinkler action. We tried a couple different sprinklers and ended up with a small blowup pool. The sprinklers were flooding our backyard too badly so we had to turn them off. Will loved the sprinklers, Lindy not so much. She did like the little pool though. We ended the evening with blueberry waffles and strawberry shortcake. What a Memorial Day meal!

The only other excitement this weekend is that Lindy peed in the potty 3 times! Twice yesterday and once today. This girl has to be potty trained this summer. This gives me some small glimmer of hope.

I’m struggling with the fact that Lindy still has 2.5 more weeks of school. My mind is totally on summer vacation. She is still excited to go so that helps. I think I can, I think I can (get up early and take her to school).

Tomorrow is a big day………we are going in the morning to observe one of the two places Lindy might go next year and then we have an IEP meeting in the afternoon to make the final decision on where she goes next year. I know what I want…we have to see if it’s the best option for her.

Here is one short of a million pictures!

Will and I played in our ‘wellies’ one morning.Lindy has played all week with her stroller and purse. She’ll come up and say, “Hi, my name is Lindy.”Her first French braid ever!Being silly.They go from fighting one minute to being sweet the next.Will’s first and last days of school. (first on left)Check out where his head is on the door. He grew! He grew!Right before school Will got knocked down and he was quite sad. Mr. John let him feed the fish to make him feel better.Mr. John. He works at the church and greets the kids every morning. He loves Lindy. He sees her when we pick up Will and when we go to music class.Will and his teacher, Ms. BrandiMs. Brandi was so sweet to Lindy this year. She’ll never know how much I appreciated everything she did with Lindy so that I’d have one from each of them. Will and his classmates (minus one little girl)The only three boys in his class!Lindy’s first pigtail French braids. So cute!!Don’t choke your sister, Will!Elia was the prettiest princess at the party.Lindy was the craziest princess at the party.Destructo strikes again. She broke her wand after having it 5 minutes.Lindy with Elia’s dad, Robert.Will built Daddy’s church this week. I dressed Lindy in this cute shirt this morning.I turned around downstairs and she had given herself a tube top. Lindy gives us the ‘stink eye’ on a daily basis. More like a minutely basis.Playing the in sprinkler.He loved it!She wasn’t so sure.The flooding the sprinklers created. Our backyard sucks.Lindy had a wardrobe change.They ended up running down the mat and jumping in the pool.I thought this face was too funny.

If these pictures don’t prove that our girl is crazy, then I’m not sure what else to show you! She makes life interesting. I call her my ‘spirited child.’

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lindy stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday. Her fever broke in the middle of Sunday night. She got the cold portion of fifth disease after that. Lindy struggles with colds because she gets so much drainage. She was technically probably okay to go to school Tuesday but we’d had a few rough sleeping nights and she was still struggling with the drainage. Whenever Lindy gets drainage then we see an increase in vomit. Eating causes the most vomit. A ton of stuff made her gag and if she gags, then it’s over. I’ve become so desensitized to vomit though. One night I would take a bite of my dinner, wipe up some vomit, take another bite, wipe some more.

We did start getting things back to normal Tuesday afternoon. We went to swim lessons and then to eat with a church member. Wednesday Lindy went back to school and we had our last music class. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their music class this past year. They love music so it was perfect for them.

Thursday we had swimming lessons again and Will started ‘swimming’ by himself! He was doggy paddling all by himself! He was very proud of himself. Lindy really enjoys swimming lessons but so far she just kind of lets the instructors pull her through the water. After swimming lessons we met Mike and Janice at the ‘ice cream shop’ for dinner. The kids were so excited to see them, it has been awhile.

Friday night we had supper club with friends and the kids had Jennifer come babysit them. We talked about it all day to Lindy. We told her that Jennifer would put her pjs on her and Jennifer would put her to bed and we’d be back after she went to sleep. I don’t know if it worked or it was just coincidence but she didn’t throw up! Jennifer has babysat lots before and Lindy has always done well with her. Congrats Jen on getting your CNA!

Saturday was the most fun day of the week. The kids had a make-up swimming lesson at 9am. It was kind of nice because it was just the two of them and the head of swimming lessons.

After swim lessons we headed to the 1st Annual Banister Family Reunion. Drew’s grandmother (Bob’s mother) had two sisters, Margaret and Jean, all Banisters. I never met Jean, but Margaret lived with Drew’s grandmother for many years so I knew her well. Nanny had 3 kids, Margaret had one son and Jean had one daughter. Nanny had 8 grandkids, Margaret had 4 grandkids and Jean had 2 grandkids. Most all of those grandkids are married with children. We met at a local park and we had a pot-luck lunch and then a big kick-ball game. Drew’s family has played kick-ball at Thanksgiving and Christmas for years and years. We introduced it to Margaret’s and Jean’s family yesterday. The reunion was really a lot of fun. I knew all of Margaret’s grandkids but had not met all of their children. It was a gorgeous day to be outside. Our kids had a blast running around and playing with their family. It really was a great time and we hope there will be a 2nd annual Banister Family Reunion!

I got my camera back this week! Yay! Although one of my issues wasn’t resolved – which has me now thinking it’s operator error!

Ms. Beth – our favorite music teacher!Me and my girl Abbey. I love Drew’s cousins!A couple of the kids there had brought their scooters and Lindy and Will LOVED them. Will could do it by himself and Lindy needed a little help. That girl just makes me nervous. That is all Will wanted to play with all day long.This was just one of the ‘men’ who chased Lindy around all day. She always seems to have lots of people to play with her!This is Will pouting because he wanted a scooter. I wonder who will be getting him a scooter for his birthday? Any guesses?Abbey and I photo bombed the boys’ picture!Dividing teams out for the kick-ball game.We want a pitcher, not a belly-itcher!! Bob and his siblings, Mike and Joan.The kids looked super cute going to church today. I’m planning on them wearing these outfits for their 4 year old pictures. (aaack…they’ll be four this summer!) Silly Lindy playing in my shoes after church.It got up to 90F this afternoon so we headed outside and filled up the water table. They had fun and of course Lindy soaked herself!